Within a week, my first company failed, my twins' daycare shut down, and I became a stay-at-home parent by default. I was planning to go back to work, so I immediately started applying for jobs.

I got a dream job offer but had to turn it down because we didn't have access to childcare we felt was safe, reliable, and affordable in the midst of the pandemic. Frustrated, I started researching childcare so I could understand why I was watching a generation of parents be pushed out of the workforce.

I reached out to a few parenting communities and let people know I was thinking of doing something to improve childcare. I asked people to fill out a survey and a whopping 2,000 people responded within a week. The responses were fascinating and the interest was humbling and energizing.

I found a group of parents who were looking for other families to swap childcare with while their kids went through remote schooling. I asked them if I could help them coordinate their swaps. They agreed! By late August, I launched 50 childcare swaps.

I noticed that the swaps with a stay-at-home parent providing care were the most successful! Intrigued, I dug deeper: the working parents who were getting childcare were thrilled with the solution but the parents who were watching their kids weren't getting paid.
I convinced the parents who were swapping care to switch to a model where parents who need childcare pay another parent to care for their child. By late October, I launched Otter with this model.

I raised a round of seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Abstract Ventures, Michael Ovitz, Kevin Hartz, Dylan Field, and Scott Belsky.